What the IMF consideres macro

Via Greg Mankiw's blog, I learned about the IMF conference on "Rethinking Macro Policy." See the announcement and program here. I reproduce the program below.

I find this most striking as a reflection on what the IMF considers "macro." Yes, they have the whole spectrum, indeed, all the way from  Geroge Akerlof and Joe Stiglitz on the far left end of traditional Keynesian economics, to... Olivier Blanchard and David Romer on the pretty-far left end of somewhat new-Keynesian economics?


Don't get me wrong, these are all very smart people, in the whole program and the final panel. Akerlof was one of my thesis advisers, and a lot of what I learned from him sticks with me today. But really, this is the entire spectrum of macro? Has anyone heard of, oh, Lucas, Sargent, Sims, Prescott and all their many descendants?  Especially if the project is to "rethink," would not some slight broadening of a spectrum have made sense?

It is a sharp lesson in the range of ideas that the IMF will bring to anything they do.

Program

IMF Headquarters 2
Conference Hall 1
Tuesday, April 16, 2013 

2:00–2:45pm	Registration
2:45–3:00pm	Opening remarks: Christine Lagarde
3:00–4:30pm	SESSION I: Monetary Policy  Chair Janet Yellen Discussants Lorenzo Bini-Smaghi Mervyn King Mike Woodford
4:30–5:00pm	Coffee break
5:00–6:30pm	SESSION II: Macroprudential Policies  Chair Andy Haldane Discussants Claudio Borio Stanley Fischer Choongsoo Kim

IMF Headquarters 2
Conference Hall 1
Wednesday, April 17, 2013

8:15–9:00am	Registration/Continental Breakfast
9:00–10:30am	SESSION III: Financial Regulation Chair Sheila Bair Discussants Jeremy Stein Jean Tirole John Vickers
10:30–11:00am	Coffee Break
11:00–12:30pm	SESSION IV: Fiscal Policy Chair Janice Eberly Discussants Anders Borg Roberto Perotti Nouriel Roubini
2:00–3:30pm	SESSION V: Exchange Rate Arrangements  Chair Agustín Carstens Discussants Jay Shambaugh Martin Wolf Gang Yi
3:30–4:00pm	***Coffee Break***
4:00–5:30pm	SESSION VI: Capital Account Management Chair Duvvuri Subbarao Discussants Philipp Hildebrand Márcio Holland de Brito Hélène Rey
5:30–6:30pm	PANEL DISCUSSION  George Akerlof Olivier Blanchard David Romer Joseph Stiglitz
6:30–8:30pm	***Cocktail Reception *** (Venue: HQ2 Second Floor)